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Artwork for What Portion Have We in David?

1 Kings 12:1-33

What Portion Have We in David?

Lyrics · 1 Kings

What Portion Have We in David?

1 Kings 12:1-33

Lyrics

About this song

About this song

This song belongs to the 1 Kings collection. One recording is available to play here, with the complete lyrics below.

Bible book
1 Kings
Collection
1 Kings
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Uncategorized
[Verse 1] Rehoboam goes to Shechem, where Israel gathers to make him king. The people ask relief from Solomon's heavy yoke. The elders advise service, humility, and a gracious answer. They advise threats of heavier burdens and chastisement with scorpions. [Pre-Chorus] The warning stood where no one wished to see, And every hidden root became a tree. [Chorus] What Portion Have We in David, let the warning remain, Hidden sin still flowers into pain. The word of the LORD exposed what men concealed, And judgment stood where every heart was revealed. [Verse 2] Adoram is stoned, and Rehoboam escapes to Jerusalem. The northern tribes make Jeroboam king while Judah follows Rehoboam. Rehoboam gathers one hundred eighty thousand men for civil war. Jeroboam fortifies Shechem and Penuel. [Bridge] Two golden calves are presented as Israel's gods from Egypt. The calves are placed at Bethel and Dan, becoming a national sin. Jeroboam builds high-place houses and appoints non-Levitical priests. He invents an eighth-month feast and personally offers upon the Bethel altar. [Final Chorus] What Portion Have We in David, let the warning remain, Hidden sin still flowers into pain. The word of the LORD exposed what men concealed, And judgment stood where every heart stood revealed. [Outro] The warning did not vanish with the dust. The final line remembered judgment, fear, and trust.

Named in this songRehoboamShechemSolomonDavidJerusalemJeroboamEgyptBethel

About the passage

1 Kings 12: The kingdom breaks where the king will not listen

The kingdom breaks at the point where Rehoboam refuses to listen. Israel gathers at Shechem prepared to make him king and asks only that Solomon’s heavy yoke be lightened. Older counselors advise service as the path to durable loyalty, while Rehoboam’s peers urge him to advertise greater severity. He chooses the threat of heavier burdens, the northern tribes reject Davidic rule, Adoram is killed, and Rehoboam flees to Jerusalem. The Book of 1 Kings identifies the division as fulfillment of Ahijah’s prophecy while still preserving the human chain of choices through which it happens. Rehoboam then assembles an army to recover the kingdom, but Shemaiah calls the northern Israelites brothers and orders the force home. The king listens this time. Jeroboam, meanwhile, faces a different crisis of trust. Afraid that pilgrimage to Jerusalem will return the people’s hearts to Rehoboam, he creates golden calves, alternate shrines, a new priesthood, and his own festival calendar. Political insecurity produces a religious system the book directly calls sin.

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